Wednesday July 25, 2007 7:36 pm

Samsung has finally announced its BD-UP5000 hybrid Blu-rayHD DVD player today. This is going to be the home theatre device to watch this holiday season, as it launches in the fourth quarter of 2007. Those consumers who worry about the format war finally have a player that should fully support the features of both formats, unlike the LG Super Multi Blue BH-100 player, which doesn’t fully support HD DVD features.

The BD-UP5000 features 1080p playback, HDMI 1.3, VC-1, H.264, and HD JPEG decoding. It also features built-in storage and Ethernet to fully support the HD DVD spec. A device like this doesn’t come cheap, so expect the BD-UP5000 to launch at $1,049 USD.

You can check the full release after the jump, which also features news on Samsung’s upcoming third generated Blu-ray players, the BD-P1400 and BD-P2400.

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., July 25, 2007 - Samsung Electronics, a market leader and award winning innovator in consumer electronics, expands its line up of high-definition optical disc players, with the launch of the BD-P1400, BD-P2400 and BD-UP5000, as well as the first HD Home Theater solution featuring Blu-ray disc (BD) playback. Now home entertainment aficionados can enjoy the closest experience to going to the movies in their own home. Building on the success of Samsung’s BD-P1000 (the first Blu-ray player in the US Market) and the second-generation BD-P1200, the all-new lineup quenches consumers’ thirst for not only the best video possible, but also high quality audio in a hi-definition disc player.

“Samsung is excited to introduce a new line of high-definition players that will enrich the theater experience at home,” said Reid Sullivan, vice president of Digital AV marketing at Samsung Electronics. “In 2007, the market for stand-alone high def players will grow more than 6 times to over 850 thousand units. From the top-of-the-line BD-UP5000 to the entry BD-P1400 to the company’s first home theater system with Blu-ray disc playback, Samsung offers a range of products at different price points to suit the growing consumer demand.”

BD-UP5000 Duo HD Player
Samsung introduces its first dual-format High-Definition (HD) optical disc player, the BD-UP5000 Duo HD Player. This player is positioned as the flagship in the company’s growing line of high definition players. Offering the same playback capabilities of the BD-P2400 including HQV (Hollywood Quality Video) processing, the BD-UP5000 supports both Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats as well as their interactive technologies, HDi and BD-Java. Consumers can now enjoy additional studio content such as trailers, director’s comments, more elaborate interactive menus and behind the scene footage.

With the launch of the Duo HD, Samsung stays true to its commitment to develop products that make life simpler through its breadth of innovative technologies. The Duo HD player blends the benefits of each format in a single player, offering access to hi-definition movie titles regardless of the authoring format.

HT-BD2 Home Theater Solution with Blu-ray
Consumers can now enjoy the full HD 1080p cinematic video quality of a Samsung Blu-ray disc player and Samsung’s full HD 1080p TVs with an immersive audio experience that takes watching movies to a whole new level. The HT-BD2 7.1 channel HD receiver / speaker system provides rich, powerful sound. With its slick, piano black design and soft blue LED accents, the HT-BD2 augments both the audio presence and visual aesthetics of home theater to a new level. A fully powered subwoofer, accentuated by four tower, a center channel, and two satellite rear speakers, gives the HT-BD2 a rumbling 1,100 Watts of total output power to keep movie and audio fans satisfied all from a sleek and single component system that makes operating any function easy.

For a truly cinematic home theater viewing experience, the HT-BD2’s Blu-ray player offers full compatibility with 24 movie frames per second playback. Since most movies are filmed at 24 frames per second, the HT-BD2 will be able to playback movies in their native format, significantly reducing unwanted artifacts. Setting the player’s Movie Frame (24Fs) feature to ON allows the consumer to adjust the HDMI 1.3 output to 24 frames per second for a crisp, theater-like experience. The HT-BD2 also supports 60Fs for enhanced compatibility with many of today’s HDTVs.

BD-P1400 and BD-P2400 Blu-ray Players
Samsung’s new BD player lineup offers full compatibility with 24 movie frames per second playback. Since most movies are filmed at 24 frames per second, these new Samsung Blu-ray players will be able to playback movies in their native format, significantly reducing unwanted artifacts. Setting the player’s Movie Frame (24Fs) feature to ON allows the consumer to adjust the HDMI 1.3 output to 24 frames per second for a crisp, theater-like experience. Each of these players will also support 60Fs for enhanced compatibility with many of today’s HDTVs.

Not only is it important for movies to look good, but also they need to sound good. Samsung’s latest BD players complete consumers’ HD total home theater experience with advanced HD audio decoding. Beyond standard Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS audio playback, both the BD-P2400 and BD-P1400 work with lossless formats including, DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD for a variety of clear, full-bodied sound options. When coupled with both models’ HDMI 1.3 connection, consumers can enjoy some of the purest sound available today.

The HDMI 1.3 connection also offers HDMI CEC (Anynet+) technology, allowing consumers to use a single remote control to operate the BD player, TV and other A/V products from Samsung. Additionally, each model is able to up-convert standard DVD discs to full HD 1080p resolution via the HDMI connection, bringing consumers’ DVD movie collections into the next generation.

Finishing off the BD-P2400’s expansive feature list, the built-in Hollywood Quality Video (HQV) processor, a powerful unit similar to those used by Hollywood production studios, enables true 1080i to 1080p HD de-interlacing for some of the best HD images possible—even from DVD formats. It is a great option to ensure full optimization of HD and SD libraries.

For those with extensive DVD collections, the BD-P2400 and BD-P1400 models include backward compatibility with standard DVD and CD formats (including DVD-ROM, DVD-+/R, DVD-+/RW, CD, CD-R and CD-RW). Playback of multimedia content in a variety of different formats is quick and easy at 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolutions. The “Easy Top Menu” allows consumers to change font and color of subtitles and menu titles according to their tastes, as well as the background color and menu graphics.